Emma Thompson | Television Academy Television Academy Birthplace: Paddington, London, England Birthday: April 15 Acclaimed British actress and writer Emma Thompson was born into a show business family in London: her father was the writer and narrator of a popular children's television series, and her mother was an actress. While studying for an English degree at University of Cambridge, Thompson became the first female member of Footlights, the university's sketch comedy troupe. Fellow members included Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Acclaimed British actress and writer Emma Thompson was born into a show business family in London: her father was the writer and narrator of a popular children's television series, and her mother was an actress. While studying for an English degree at University of Cambridge, Thompson became the first female member of Footlights, the university's sketch comedy troupe. Fellow members included Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Thompson's first two television roles came in shows created by Fry and Laurie: first in their 1982 sketch comedy series There's Nothing to Worry About!, and then in their 1983 show The Crystal Cube.

She next appeared with the pair on the sketch show Alfresco for two seasons, from 1983 - 1984. In 1985, Thompson starred in a West End revival of the musical Me and My Girl, earning rave reviews. In 1988, she won her first BAFTA for her role in two different 1987 television miniseries - Fortunes of War and Tutti Frutti. In 1989, Thompson reunited with her Fortunes of War costar Kenneth Branagh in a Judi Dench-directed revival of the play Look Back in Anger. She also starred in Branagh's screen adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V that same year. The next year came her film debut, the romantic comedy The Tall Guy. Also in 1989, she reunited with her Fortunes of War costar Kennth Branagh in his screen adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V. She would go on to star in his staged productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear, as well as his 1993 film adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing.

1993 brought an onslaught of awards for Thompson for her role in the 1992 film Howards End, based on the E.M. Forster novel. She won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA, as well as several critics association's awards, for her performance as Margaret Schlegel in the film. In 1994, she was nominated for two more Academy Awards for her performances in In the Name of the Father and The Remains of the Day, only the eighth performer ever to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year. Thompson achieved another Oscar record in 1996, when she won the award for Best Adapted screenplay for Sense and Sensibility, a film she also starred in. She is the only performer in history to have won Oscars for both writing and acting. Other films of note include Love Actually, Nanny McPhee, which she also wrote, Stranger Than Fiction, An Education, Brave, Saving Mr. Banks, and the Harry Potter series. She will next appear in the live action Beauty and the Beast adaptation as Mrs. Potts. Thompson has also remained active in television.

She won her first Emmy for a 1997 guest appearance on the tv series Ellen, and was subsequently nominated for her roles in the TV movie Wit, the miniseries Angels in America, and the TV movie The Song of Lunch. In 2014, her performance as Mrs. Lovett in the musical Sweeney Todd was televised as part of the Live from Lincoln Center series. Where do Oscar winners keep their Academy Awards? | Film | The Guardian Oscars Where do Oscar winners keep their Academy Awards? Emma Thompson keeps her Oscars in the loo, Russell Crowe keeps his in a chicken coop. Where else do Hollywood stars keep their Academy Awards? Jennifer Lawrence: keeps hers on top of her parents’ piano. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters Oscars Where do Oscar winners keep their Academy Awards? Emma Thompson keeps her Oscars in the loo, Russell Crowe keeps his in a chicken coop. Where else do Hollywood stars keep their Academy Awards?

Tuesday 25 February 2014 13.08 EST Last modified on Tuesday 25 February 2014 14.52 EST Share on Messenger Close If Lloyd Grossman were to go through the keyholes of Oscar winners’ houses, he would find their golden statues in various spots: from prime real estate such as the mantelpiece to the depths of cupboards collecting dust. Emma Thompson , a two-time winner for Howards End and Sense and Sensibility, famously keeps hers in the loo: “They look far too outré anywhere else. They’re great big, gold, shiny things.” She’s not alone – Susan Sarandon, Lionel Richie and Sean Connery all claim to keep their golden fellas alongside their bidets and baths. Kate Winslet is another Brit who’s opted for the loo for her best actress Academy Award, which she was awarded for her complex role as a concentration camp guard in the 2008 adaptation of Bernhard Schlink’s novel, The Reader.

Pinterest ‘This'll look lovely in my loo!’ Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters While Jodie Foster used to opt for the bathroom – “they looked good with the faucets” – she has since moved the two she won for The Accused and Silence of the Lambs to a much more orthodox spot: a trophy case. Traditionalists include George Clooney, whose awards – best picture for Argo and best supporting Actor for Syriana – are in his library at home, and Dustin Hoffman, whose two best actor awards – the first for Kramer vs. Kramer in 1980 and the second for Rain Man nine years later, are kept in his study. Pinterest Pleased as punch. Photograph: Tony Korody/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image Reese Witherspoon dreamt of being a non-traditionalist, reportedly wanting to transform the best actress statue she won for Walk the Line into a door knocker or a necklace (“statement” jewellery would not have cut the mustard). Neither option being practical, however, he now stands in her living room.

For all of the acceptance speech kerfuffle when Gwyneth Paltrow won best actress for her role as Viola de Lesseps in John Madden’s 1998 film Shakespeare in Love, the Hollywood star has since said she keeps the award tucked away – “the thing freaks me out”. Pinterest If you award us, do we not cry? Photograph: Eric Draper/AP Tom Hanks has got a slightly more level head around his. He apparently keeps his best actor awards, one each for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, on the family trophy shelf alongside football (the English kind) trophies and a World’s Greatest Mom trophy left from a mother’s day past. Pinterest ‘You never know what you’re gonna get.’ Photograph: Blake Sell/Reuters/Popperfoto Goldie Hawn’s award for best supporting actress in the 1970 film Cactus Flower rests somewhere altogether more zen – in the “India Room” in which she likes to meditate.

Hers isn’t the only award to apparently emit good vibes – Russell Crowe’s award for best actor, which he won for his role as the bang-on-trend, leather miniskirt clad Maximus Decimus Meridius in Ridley Scott’s 2000 film Gladiator, is kept in a chicken coop on the actor’s Australian ranch. Crowe apparently thinks it helps the hens lay bigger eggs. Pinterest ‘Are you not entertained?’ Photograph: Reed Saxon/AP The parents of a number of stars have ended up with their Oscar-winning child’s awards. Angeline Jolie’s late mum, for a number of years, had the best supporting actress award her daughter won for her role as the troubled Lisa Rowe in Girl, Interrupted. Nicole Kidman’s best actress Oscar for The Hours now sits on her parents’ mantelpiece in Sydney, where neighbours apparently pass by for visits. Hollywood’s darling du jour, Jennifer Lawrence , keeps the award she won last year for her leading role in Silver Linings Playbook on top of her parents’ piano at home in Kentucky. Pinterest Catherine Zeta Jones’s jet-setting award is in Bermuda.

Photograph: Reed Saxon/AP Holly Hunter reportedly keeps her best actress award, which she won for her portrayal of Ada McGrath in the 1994 New Zealand film, The Piano, at the New York offices of Joel and Ethan Coen. It sits alongside the statue Frances McDormand won for her role as the heavily-pregnant local police chief with the insatiable appetite, Marge Gunderson, in the Coens’ 1996 film Fargo. In contrast to Hunter’s, her Piano co-star Anna Paquin’s Oscar seems to have no fixed abode, flitting between her sock drawer and on the floor next to her boots. Pinterest Frances McDormand with a gaggle of awards. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters Nicolas Cage certainly bucks a lot of trends. He once told media that, for residency reasons, the award he won for the 1996 film Leaving Las Vegas was “in a truck somewhere moving through Louisiana”. Apparently, one of the ways the authorities determine if you’re a resident or not – in what must be the most niche of tests – is to ask where your Academy Award is.

But the best answer to the Oscar statue display question comes from Timothy Hutton, the youngest person ever to win the Academy Award for best supporting actor. Hutton, who won the gold figurine for his role in Ordinary People, was apparently having a party a number of years ago. His sister popped the Oscar in the fridge alongside the beers so that guests would happen upon it en route to refreshment. The statue is apparently still in there. This article was amended on 25 February to reflect the fact that Angelina Jolie’s mother has since passed away. Rent Emma Thompson Movies on DVD and Blu-ray - DVD Netflix Thrillers Emma Thompson Born April 19, 1959, in London, Emma Thompson is the daughter of actress Phyllida Law. While studying English Literature at Cambridge, Thompson also began acting and got her professional start on BBC sitcoms in the late 1980s. She made her film debut with 1989's The Tall Guy, followed the same year with Henry V, the first of four films she made with then-husband Kenneth Branagh.

She won a Best Actress Academy Award for Howards End and was also nominated for In the Name of the Father, Remains of the Day and Sense and Sensibility. Her screenplay of Sense and Sensibility also earned Thompson her second Oscar (for Best Adapted Screenplay), making her the first person to win both acting and writing Oscars. After playing a thinly disguised Hilary Clinton in Primary Colors (1998), Thompson also did award-winning work in TV movies, including Wit and Angels in America. Emma Thompson Wins Best Actress: 1993 Oscars - YouTube Emma Thompson Wins Best Actress: 1993 Oscars Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Sep 3, 2013 Anthony Hopkins presenting Emma Thompson with the Oscar® for Best Actress for her performance in "Howards End" at the 65th Academy Awards® in 1993. Hosted by Billy Crystal.

Category Emma Thompson - Actress - Biography.com Emma Thompson Academy Award–winning actress Emma Thompson starred in films like Howards End, Sense and Sensibility and Nanny McPhee. IN THESE GROUPS Famous British Actors Synopsis Emma Thompson was born April 15, 1959 to director Eric Thompson and actress Phyllida Law. She began acting at Cambridge University, then moved into stage and television comedy. In 1987, she worked with actor Kenneth Branagh, whom she married (1989–'95). Her notable films include Howards End, In the Name of the Father, The Remains of the Day and the popular Harry Potter and Nanny McPhee series. Early Life Actress and writer Emma Thompson was born on April 15, 1959, in London, England, into a theatrical family. Thompson is the daughter of director Eric Thompson and actress Phyllida Law, and her younger sister, Sophie, also became an actress. At first, Thompson did not want to follow in her parents' footsteps. Instead, she went to Cambridge University to study English literature. But Thompson eventually caught the acting bug when she joined the university's famed Cambridge Footlights theatre club.

Other members of the group included Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie (who Thompson briefly dated). After completing her degree, Thompson tried her hand at stand-up comedy. She later described her act to a Newsweek reporter as "all rude . . . basically, herpes and things like that, which doesn't necessarily go down well with everyone." Early Film Career While her career as a stand-up comic may have flopped, Thompson enjoyed some success on the stage and on British television. She appeared with Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and others on the sketch comedy show Alfresco in 1983. On the London stage, Thompson enjoyed a long run in a revival of the 1930s musical Me and My Girl. In 1987, Thompson starred in two television productions. She worked with Coltrane again on Tutti Frutti, which followed the misadventures of a fictional rock group known as the Majestics. For the World War II drama Fortunes of War, Thompson starred opposite Kenneth Branagh. The two played a married British couple living in Bucharest, Romania, when war breaks out.

Thompson and Branagh eventually developed a relationship off-screen, culminating in their 1989 wedding. Thompson and Branagh worked together on several more projects. In 1989, she had a supporting role in Branagh's film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V. Thompson played a woman who has lost her memory in the well-received mystery Dead Again (1991), with Branagh on board as the private eye trying to help her. In Peter's Friends, she and Branagh appeared as college friends in the ensemble comedy, which included Hugh Laurie and American comedienne Rita Rudner. Thompson's last film with Branagh had the pair taking on the famous Shakespearean roles of Beatrice and Benedick in the comedy Much Ado about Nothing (1993), which Branagh directed and adapted for the screen. Serious Roles In 1992, Thompson truly started to emerge from her husband's shadow with her powerful performance in Howards End. She starred opposite Anthony Hopkins in this turn-of-the-century drama produced by Ismail Merchant and directed by James Ivory. Based on the novel by E. M.

Forster, the film followed the interrelationships between two families -- the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes. Thompson played Margaret, the oldest of the philanthropic Schlegel siblings while Hopkins played Henry, the patriarch of the Wilcox family. Henry ignores his late wife's last request to give her estate, Howards End, to Margaret, but he eventually falls for Margaret. As a critic in the Washington Post wrote, "the film's driving force is Thompson, who balances delicately along its ironic edge like a tightrope walker with an umbrella." She won several honors for her work on this film, including an Academy Award for Best Actress. The following year Thompson shone in a more contemporary drama, In the Name of the Father. She played a lawyer defending Gerry and Guiseppe Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis and Pete Postlethwaite), a father and son wrongly convicted of an IRA bombing. Based on a true story, the film earned strong reviews for its acting. Thompson also had a supporting role in The Remains of the Day, which reunited her with Anthony Hopkins. The two played servants in a stately English manor known as Darlington Hall in the days before the start of World War II.

For In the Name of Father and The Remains of the Day, Thompson received Academy Award nominations. Sense and Sensibility By the mid-1990s, Thompson's marriage to Branagh had ended. She took on a great creative challenge around this time, writing the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility, based on the popular novel by Jane Austen. In this historical drama, Thompson played Elinor, one of the Dashwood sisters who are left to fend for themselves after the death of their father. Kate Winslet played her sister Marianne, and the two women set to improve their situation through marriage. The film earned raves from the critics. Leonard Matlin wrote that the film was "a spirited and moving look at social mores and how disparate personalities dealt with them in early 19th century England." As one critic in The New York Times exclaimed, Thompson "proves as crisp and indispensably clever a screenwriter as she is a leading lady." The film, directed by Ang Lee, received eight Academy Award nominations. Both Thompson and Winslet earned nominations for their acting, and Thompson took home the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Thompson became romantically involved with actor Greg Wise, who appeared with her in Sense and Sensibility. The couple welcomed their first child together, Gaia Romilly, in 1999. They married in 2003, and later "adopted" a teenaged Rwandan refugee, Tindyebewa Agaba, into their family. On his behalf, they engaged in a legal battle in 2008 to prevent him from being extradited back to Rwanda where his family had been killed during the genocide. International Fame Around this time, Thompson co-starred with her mother in The Winter Guest (1997). The two had worked together in several films, but this is perhaps their most significant pairing. Directed by Alan Rickman, the drama received some positive reviews, but it did not achieve much in terms of an audience. The following year, Thompson won an Emmy Award for her guest appearance on the sitcom Ellen. She played a fictionalized version of herself as a closeted lesbian who was pretending to be British. In 2001, Thompson earned an Emmy Award nomination for her work with Mike Nichols on Wit. The pair adapted the play, about a professor dying of cancer, for television.

Thompson starred in the critically acclaimed production. Two years later, she earned more accolades for her multiple roles in the miniseries Angels in America. An all-star cast, including Al Pacino and Meryl Streep, brought Tony Kushner's award-winning play to television. Back on the big screen, Thompson appeared in two installments of the wildly popular Harry Potter series. She also wrote and starred in the children's film Nanny McPhee (2005). In 2008, Thompson appeared in two very different films. She starred as Lady Marchain in Brideshead Revisited, based on the Evelyn Waugh novel, about an aristocratic English family. In Last Chance Harvey, Thompson starred opposite Dustin Hoffman in a romantic drama about two strangers who meet by chance and the relationship that develops between the two. In March 2010, Thompson returned to theaters in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, the next installment in her series about a very offbeat babysitter. Her screenplay was also used as the basis for a novel by the same title.

In 2015, Thompson was nominated for an Emmy for her role in the televised staging of the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Off Camera Outside of acting, Thompson is a supporter of numerous environmental and social causes. She has served as an international ambassador for ActionAid and she joined Greenpeace in its action to stop the expansion of London's Heathrow Airport. Thompson is also active at her daughter's school, teaching drama to the students there. Thompson currently resides in London with her husband and their daughter. Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us ! Citation Information 1995 Academy Awards® Winners and History Il Postino: The Postman (1994, It./Fr./Belg.) Sense and Sensibility (1995, UK/US) Actor: NICOLAS CAGE in "Leaving Las Vegas", Richard Dreyfuss in "Mr.

Holland's Opus", Anthony Hopkins in "Nixon", Sean Penn in "Dead Man Walking", Massimo Troisi in "Il Postino" Actress: SUSAN SARANDON in "Dead Man Walking", Elisabeth Shue in "Leaving Las Vegas", Sharon Stone in "Casino", Meryl Streep in "The Bridges of Madison County", Emma Thompson in "Sense and Sensibility" Supporting Actor: KEVIN SPACEY in "The Usual Suspects", James Cromwell in "Babe", Ed Harris in "Apollo 13", Brad Pitt in "Twelve Monkeys", Tim Roth in "Rob Roy" Supporting Actress: MIRA SORVINO in "Mighty Aphrodite", Joan Allen in "Nixon", Kathleen Quinlan in "Apollo 13", Mare Winningham in "Georgia", Kate Winslet in "Sense and Sensibility" Director: MEL GIBSON for "Braveheart", Mike Figgis for "Leaving Las Vegas", Chris Noonan for "Babe", Michael Radford for "Il Postino", Tim Robbins for "Dead Man Walking" The major Oscar winner of the year was the Best Picture award winner, producer / star / director Mel Gibson's and

 Paramount's stirring and violent historical action-epic tale Braveheart, about 13th century Scottish folk rebel hero and warrior Sir William Wallace, who led a vengeful, bloody revolt composed of guerrilla strikes against the treachery of villainous King Edward I.

The three-hour, rousing action tale (Australian Gibson's second feature as director after his work in The Man Without a Face (1993)), with unforgettable battle scenes, romance, and sacrifice, was nominated for ten awards (including Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Dramatic Score, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Sound). It triumphantly won five Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, and Best Sound Effects. Braveheart was the only Best Picture nominee that didn't have an acting nomination (Gibson was denied a nomination in the performing category). The only Best Picture nominee that could be considered a traditional Hollywood offering was director Ron Howard's blockbuster hit Apollo 13 (with nine nominations and two wins - Best Sound and Best Editing) - a chronicle of the real-life adventures of the ill-fated, heroic astronauts (Jim Lovell and his crew) of the 1970s Apollo-13 mission to the moon, who averted tragedy with the persistent help of the Houston NASA team.

The other three Best Picture nominees included: the Australian fantasy film by director Chris Noonan, Babe (with seven nominations and one win - Best Visual Effects) about a live-action barnyard and its 'sheepherding' star - an intelligent piglet named Babe Taiwanese director Ang Lee's costume drama and British comedy of manners Sense and Sensibility (with seven nominations and one win - Best Adapted Screenplay for first-time screenwriter and star actress Emma Thompson), a witty adaptation of Jane Austen's 19th century novel director Michael Radford's and Miramax Studio's Italian tragi-comedy based on Antonio Skarmeta's novel Burning Patience, Il Postino (The Postman) (with five nominations and only one win - Best Dramatic Score by Luis Enriquez Bacalov) about a sweet, tongue-tied Mediterranean mailman (Massimo Troisi) whose friendship with exiled, legendary Chilean poet Pablo Neruda yields unexpected results with the town's beautiful barmaid. [Il Postino was only the fifth non-English language film in the history of the Awards that received a Best Picture nomination.] With his Best Director win, actor/director/producer Mel Gibson became the sixth actor-turned director to win a Best Director Oscar.

He joined five other actors-turned-filmmakers with Best Director Oscars: Woody Allen for Clint Eastwood for Unforgiven (1992) Two of the five directors of Best Picture nominees were not nominated as Best Director: Ron Howard Ang Lee In their places, writer/director Mike Figgis was nominated for his adaptation of John O'Brien's semi-autobiographical novel - the low-budget indie Leaving Las Vegas (with four nominations and one win - Best Actor), a depressing, film-noirish acting tour de force about two down-and-outers in flashy Las Vegas. And producer/writer/director Tim Robbins was nominated for Dead Man Walking (with four nominations and one win - Best Actress), an adaptation of Sister Helen Prejean's best-selling account of her work among condemned-to-die prisoners on death row at New Orleans' Angola Prison. Both films - Leaving Las Vegas and Dead Man Walking were nominated in the Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress categories, but were snubbed in the Best Picture category! All four of the year's acting winners were first-time Academy Award winners.

The Best Actor Oscar went to Nicolas Cage (with his first nomination and first Oscar) for his performance as failed, Hollywood scriptwriter and fatally-destructive, genial, but suicidal alcoholic Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas. The other four Best Actor nominees in the category were: Richard Dreyfuss (with his second nomination) as mid-1960s high school, mentoring music teacher Glenn Holland (in a career spanning three decades) in director Stephen Herek's tear-jerker Mr. Holland's Opus (the film's sole nomination) Anthony Hopkins (with his third nomination) as tragically-lonely, scandal-ridden President Richard M.

Nixon ('Tricky Dick') in producer/director/writer Oliver Stone's three hour-long, melodramatic, historically-interpretative film Nixon (with four nominations and no wins) Sean Penn (with his first nomination) as Sister Helen's client - accused, remorseless death row rapist/murderer Matthew Poncelet in Dead Man Walking Massimo Troisi as shy, romantically-inclined, village postman Mario Ruoppolo in the bittersweet film Il Postino [Troisi was the first post-humous Best Actor nominee since Peter Finch was nominated (and won the Oscar) for Network (1976) . He died of a heart attack very shortly after filming his final scene.] Two of the nominees for Best Actress and the winner of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, played the role of prostitutes. Ironically, the role of a nun was the winner in the Best Actress category - this was the first time a person won for being a nun in Oscar history.

Susan Sarandon (with her fifth Best Actress nomination and first Oscar win) won the Best Actress award for her powerful role as anti-death penalty, real-life Catholic nun - Sister Helen Prejean, who spiritually advised a condemned, death-row murderer (Sean Penn) in Dead Man Walking. She became the first star to win Best Actress in a film directed by her nominated director-husband (unofficial but live-in husband Tim Robbins). [Note: Some argue that Frances McDormand was the first in the following year, winning Best Actress for Fargo (1996) , directed by nominated director-husband Joel Coen.] She was only the 2nd nun-playing actress in Academy history to win an Oscar for her performance, following Jennifer Jones who won the Best Actress Oscar for The Song of Bernadette (1943). Others who have been nominated (both lead and supporting) for their nun-characters include Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in Doubt (2008), Anne Bancroft and Meg Tilly in Agnes of God (1985), Peggy Wood in The Sound of Music (1965) (P.S.

technically, Julie Andrews hadn't taken her vows yet), Lilia Skalia in Lilies of the Field (1963), Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story (1959), Deborah Kerr in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), Loretta Young and Celeste Holm in Come to the Stable (1949), Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), and Gladys Cooper in The Song of Bernadette (1943).

The competing Best Actress nominees included: Elisabeth Shue (with her first nomination) as lonely, soft-hearted prostitute Sera in Leaving Las Vegas Sharon Stone (with her first nomination) as Las Vegas casino boss Robert DeNiro's ex-hooker wife - the hedonistic and alluring Ginger McKenna in writer/director Martin Scorsese's underworld crime adaptation of Nicholas Pileggi's book Casino (the film's sole nomination) that reunited DeNiro, Scorsese, Pesci and Pileggi Meryl Streep (with her tenth nomination, and her 8th Best Actress nomination) as repressed, mid-1960s, Madison County (Iowa) farm-wife Francesca Johnson yearning for romance with a photographer (co-star Clint Eastwood) in star/producer/director Clint Eastwood's adaptation of Robert James Waller's novel The Bridges of Madison County (the film's sole nomination) Emma Thompson (with her fourth acting nomination and a recent Oscar win in Howard's End (1992)) as sensible Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility [Emma Thompson became the first performer to have dual nominations as screenwriter and actress - for Sense and Sensibility.

She won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar award, but lost her bid for an acting Oscar this time. With her adapted screenplay statue, she became the only individual, male or female, to have scored competitive Oscars for acting and writing, in 1992 and in this year.] All ten of the Best Supporting Actor and Actress nominees were first-time contenders. Kevin Spacey (with his first nomination and Oscar win!) won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as evil, crippled con-man/loser Roger "Verbal" Kint - who was grilled about a San Pedro tanker explosion and confesses in producer/director Bryan Singer's feature film debut, a delightfully-twisted, brilliant film-noirish The Usual Suspects (with only two nominations and two wins - including Best Original Screenplay for Christopher McQuarrie).

This low-budget independent film, made for $6 million, introduced the world to the elusive character of Keyser Soze, known for the saying: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." The other four nominees in the Best Supporting Actor category were: James Cromwell (with his first nomination) as Babe's kind-hearted farm owner Arthur Hoggett in Babe Ed Harris (with his first nomination) as chain-smoking flight director Gene Kranz in Apollo 13 Brad Pitt (with his first nomination) as seriously deranged Jeffrey Goines in director Terry Gilliam's complex, off-beat science fiction fantasy 12 Monkeys (with two nominations and no wins) Tim Roth (with his first nomination) as Rob Roy's evil, loathsome nemesis Cunningham in director Michael Caton-Jones' tale of the early 18th century legendary Scot - the lusty Robert Roy MacGregor in Rob Roy (the film's sole nomination) For her lead role as naive prostitute/porno star Linda Ash ('Judy Cum'), the wayward birth mother of divorced sportswriter Woody Allen's adopted son in actor/writer/director Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (with two nominations and one win),

 Mira Sorvino (with her first nomination and Oscar win) won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar award.

She followed in a long-line of other actresses who won Oscars for playing streetwalkers and hookers.

[Mira Sorvino was the third actress to win an Oscar for a performance in a Woody Allen film - following previous winners Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977) , and two-time winner Dianne Wiest for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Bullets Over Broadway (1994).] Her competitors in the Best Supporting Actress category included: Joan Allen (with her first nomination) as understanding, soft-spoken wife Pat Nixon in Nixon Kathleen Quinlan (with her first nomination) as omen-fearing Marylin Lovell - Jim Lovell's (co-star Tom Hanks) wife in Apollo 13 Mare Winningham (with her first nomination) as older sister Georgia - a settled, stable, successful folk-singer in director Ulu Grosbard's sibling rivalry character study Georgia (the film's sole nomination) Kate Winslet (with her first nomination) as overly romantic Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility This year's Honorary Oscar award was presented to Kirk Douglas, with a film career of almost 50 years, "as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community." He was nominated three times for Best Actor: for Champion (1949), The Bad and the

 Beautiful (1952) , and Lust For Life (1956) - but never won.

He had appeared in many other great films, including The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), Out of the Past (1947) , The Big Carnival (1951), Detective Story (1951), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Paths of Glory (1957) , Spartacus (1960), Lonely Are the Brave (1962), and Seven Days in May (1964). Another Honorary Oscar award recipient was famed animator Chuck Jones, often known as "The Father of Contemporary Animation," for "the creation of classic cartoons and cartoon characters whose animated lives have brought joy to our real ones for more than half a century. He directed animation at Warner Bros. (famous for Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Daffy Duck), and created such characters as Wile E. Coyote, Henery Hawk, Pepe Le Pew, Marvin Martian, Ralph Wolf, the Road Runner, Sam Sheepdog, and Sniffles.

Oscar Snubs and Omissions: Leaving Las Vegas and Dead Man Walking were nominated in the Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress categories, but were snubbed in the Best Picture category. Scorsese's Casino, a tale of greed and glittering Las Vegas decadence in the 1970s, with a sole unsuccessful nomination for Sharon Stone, lacked awards-nominations in a number of other categories (Best Director, Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay), and Robert DeNiro was un-nominated for his role as ill-fated Jewish bookmaking gangster Sam "Ace" Rothstein. Director Clint Eastwood's The Bridges of Madison County (with only one unsuccessful nomination for Meryl Streep as Best Actress) lacked a Best Director nomination and a Best Acting nomination for his role as photographer Robert Kincaid. One of the biggest omissions was Before Sunrise (Best Picture, Best Director (Richard Linklater), Best Actor (Ethan Hawke as Jesse), Best Actress (Julie Delpy as Celine), and Best Original Screenplay) - an all-time great romance film about two strangers spontaneously engaging in an overnight conversation in Vienna that changed their lives.

Director Ang Lee failed to win a Best Director nomination for Sense and Sensibility, and director Ron Howard was denied a similar nomination for Apollo 13. Tom Hanks was unnominated for Apollo 13 as astronaut and mission leader Jim Lovell ("Houston, we have a problem"), denying him a chance at an unprecedented three consecutive Oscar wins for Best Actor. There were only two (unsuccessful) nominations for Terry Gilliam's sci-fi time-travel film 12 Monkeys - Best Supporting Actor (Brad Pitt) and Best Costume Design. Spike Lee's Clockers, a grim film about crack drug trade, was also denied nominations, as was David Fincher's gruesome crime thriller and box-office hit Se7en (with only one nomination - Best Film Editing). Female director Kathryn Bigelow's futuristic thriller Strange Days received zero recognition -- for acting honors to Juliette Lewis, Angela Bassett, or for Ralph Fiennes, or for producer James Cameron's script. The CGI-enhanced visual-special effects by Stan Parks were unrecognized for Jumanji.

The following were additional acting nominations - denied or unacknowledged: Jennifer Jason Leigh as Mare Winningham's tormented sister Sadie - a wanna-be, drug-addicted rock singer in Georgia Gary Sinise as bitter, grounded astronaut Ken Mattingly in Apollo 13 Julianne Moore as affluent, fragile California housewife Carol White with a unique 20th century affliction called MCS ("multiple chemical sensitivity") and forced to live an isolated existence at a desert retreat called Wrenwood to prevent serious allergic reactions, in Todd Haynes' Safe Kathy Bates as the title character Dolores Claiborne, an abused wife in a domestically-troubled family with estranged daughter Selena (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in director Taylor Hackford's adaptation of Stephen King's 1992 novel Dolores Claiborne (with no nominations) Julia Ormond as Sabrina Fairchild, and Nancy Marchand as a daffy society matron (and Harrison Ford's mother) in the inferior remake Sabrina (with two unsuccessful nominations - Best Original Musical or Comedy Score, and Best Original Song - "Moonlight") Angela Bassett as raging, wronged wife Bernadine 'Bernie' Harris in Forest Whitaker's Waiting to Exhale (

with no nominations), adapted from Terry McMillan's novel of the same name Golden Globe winner Nicole Kidman as TV anchorwoman Suzanne Stone Maretto with sociopathic, spouse-murdering intentions, and Joaquin Phoenix as the dumb, working-class teen drawn into her scheme in Gus Van Sant's black dramedy To Die For Ian McKellen as the title character in Richard Loncraine's dramatic period film Richard III (with only two unsuccessful nominations - Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design) Kevin Kline as French jewel thief Luc Teyssier in Lawrence Kasdan's French Kiss (with no nominations) Jim Carrey as Edward Nygma/The Riddler in Batman Forever (with three unsuccessful nominations - Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Sound Effects Editing) Albert Finney as Alfie Byrne, an early 1960s Dublin bus driver in A Man of No Importance Don Cheadle as a criminal psychopath named Mouse - a sharp counterpoint to Denzel Washington's private eye named Easy in an LA crime case in Devil in a Blue Dress BIOGRAPHY: Emma Thompson Lifetime twitter BIOGRAPHY Emma Thompson was born into a leading British theatrical family.

Her father, Eric Thompson, was an actor who became famous for narrating the popular animated childrens’ series, 'The Magic Roundabout' during the 1960s and 1970s. Her mother, Phyllida Law, was also an actress, and Emma had one younger sister, Sophie, who is also an actress too. Thompson has described her family background as cheerful, clever and creative. She also spent part of her childhood years in Scotland, and has often said that she “feels Scottish”. Sadly, Thompson’s dad died in 1982, and did not live long enough to see his firstborn daughter strike gold at the Oscars. As a teenager, Thompson attended Camden School for Girls, and then went on to read for an Honours degree in English Literature at Newnham College, Cambridge. She also joined the university’s famous theatrical club, the Footlights, where many famous British comedians - including John Cleese, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and more recently Sascha Baron Cohen (aka Borat) had first flexed their acting muscles.

Thompson subsequently became vice-president of the Footlights and was soon talent-spotted by showbiz agent Richard Armitage, who offered her a contract with his agency whilst she was still an undergraduate. Thompson also achieved fame with the Footlights at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where, along with Stephen Fry, Tony Slattery, Hugh Laurie, Paul Dwyer and Paul Shearer, she won the first ever Perrier Award. Thompson’s acting career proper began in 1980, soon after she graduated from university. She started out doing stints on BBC Radio, as well as touring with various comedy shows, and got her first proper slot on television in the comedy sketch show, 'Alfresco', in 1983. The following year, Thompson was a guest star alongside Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie on the highly popular sitcom, 'The Young Ones', which also aired on the BBC. She soon achieved critical acclaim when she took the lead in a West End revival of the popular show, 'Me And My Girl', where she played opposite Robert Lindsay. She went on to star in the BBC drama series, 'Fortunes of War'.

Here, she played an English expatriate living in Eastern Europe just as the Second World War began. This was also a highly momentous role for Thompson as far as her personal life was concerned, for it was whilst filming this series that she first met the actor Kenneth Branagh, who she went on to marry in August 1989. Thompson and Kenneth set up their own production company, and frequently worked together on hit movies, including 'Dead Again', 'Henry V' and 'Much Ado About Nothing'. During her time spent working at the BBC, Thompson frequently found herself acting on a range of comedy review programmes alongside many of her former Footlights buddies, including Hugh Laurie (whom she also dated for a time), and Robbie Coltrane, with whom she would later act in several of the Harry Potter movies. Thompson achieved the ultimate television accolade when she succeeded in landing her own TV series, called 'Thompson', which featured many of her own sketches and characters that she had created. Sadly, Thompson’s TV series was not very well received, and did not return for a second series. But far greater successes were just around the corner.

It was surely only a question of time before Thompson graduated from the small screen to the big screen. Her first major film role came in 1990, when she played opposite Jeff Goldblum in a movie called 'The Tall Guy'. But although Thompson made her feature film debut as a comedy actress, she was soon to become famous for playing more serious dramatic roles. In 1992, she took the role of Margaret Schlegel, in the Merchant Ivory screen version of E.M. Forster’s famous novel, 'Howard’s End'. Here, she played the role of older sister to her headstrong younger sibling, played by Helena Bonham-Carter, also acting alongside Sir Anthony Hopkins. Thompson’s stellar performance in this role won her that year’s Academy Award for Best Actress. 'Howard’s End' brought honours for Emma on both sides of the Atlantic, as she also received a BAFTA Award here in England for the film; it also firmly established her as a leading movie actress. Thompson went on to act in a movie about the Guildford Four called, In 'The Name Of The Father'.

She then played opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins again in the dramatisation of the Booker Prize winning novel, 'The Remains Of The Day'. Her next serious role was that of the painter Dora Carrington, the muse and friend of the famous gay writer, Lytton Strachey, in the movie version of her life, called 'Carrington'. Meanwhile, Thompson’s first marriage had run into problems, which unfortunately attracted more than their fair share of attention in the tabloid gossip columns, owing to “Ken and Em”’s celebrity status. The couple eventually divorced in 1995, but Thompson was soon to find love and happiness again quite soon - along with yet another Academy Award success. Also in 1995, Thompson accepted the role of Elinor Dashwood in Ang Lee’s version of Jane Austen’s novel, 'Sense and Sensibility'. Whilst filming this movie, Thompson met and fell in love with fellow actor Greg Wise, who played the role of Willoughby, Kate Winslet’s paramour.

'Sense and Sensibility' became recognised as an all-time classic rendering of the novel; Thompson had also been hard at work behind the scenes, however, as it was she who adapted the novel for the big screen. Her excellent screenplay was justly rewarded when she received the Oscar for Best Adaptation for Sense and Sensibility. Soon afterwards, she received an Emmy Award for her role as a guest star in a 1997 episode of the show 'Ellen'; in this episode, she played a fictionalised parody of herself Thompson’s career then changed pace and slowed down a little, and she also became a mother. Thompson and Greg’s daugher, Gaia Romilly Wise, was born on 4 December, 1999; incidentally, Thompson and Greg were married on 29 July, 2003. Meanwhile, Thompson began spending more time working in America. She took a leading role in the HBO series, 'Wit', where she played the part of a dying cancer victim. In 2003, she played several roles, including that of an angel, in the series 'Angels in America'.

In Thompson’s next screen outing, however, she chose a lighter role, playing the part of Professor Sybill Trelawney, the vague psychic schoolteacher in the movie version of 'Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban'. This was a role that Thompson would reprise in 2007, when she starred as Professor Trelawney once again in 'Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix'. Perhaps thanks to her academic grounding as an English scholar and Cambridge graduate, Thompson is also a highly talented scriptwriter and has also achieved independent fame for her adaptations and screenplays. In addition to her Oscar-winning adaptation of 'Sense and Sensibility', Thompson has also written outstanding original screenplays, the most notable being that of 'Nanny McPhee' (2005). Nanny McPhee marked a return to her playing the lighter, more comedic roles that had originally made her famous. As well as writing the screenplay, Emma also starred in the movie, and played the title role. Teaming up with Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dustin Hoffman, Thompson starred in 2006 comedy drama 'Stranger than Fiction', which led to three award nominations.

The following year saw her step into the world of wizardry when she appeared in 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' before making a cameo in Will Smith’s post-apocalyptic science fiction thriller 'I Am Legend'. A leading role in British drama 'Brideshead Revisited' (2008), which was based on the 1945 novel by Evelyn Waugh, won further critical approval as Thompson was rewarded with more award nominations. These included a British Independent Film Award, a London Film Critics Circle Award and a Satellite Award. A Golden Globe Award for Best Actress nomination was also secured by Emma for her following movie, 'Last Chance Harvey' (2008), an American romantic drama starring Dustin Hoffman. Thanks to the success of the first film, it was just a matter of time before Thompson reprised her role as Nanny McPhee and this happened when she starred in 2010’s 'Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang'. Thompson wrote the screenplay for the sequel, which was a commercial success and was largely positively received by critics.

Thompson returned for the final chapter of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' in 2011 and delved into the murky world of aliens in 'Men in Black III' in 2012. Despite her high-flying Hollywood career, Emma Thompson is firmly down to earth, and also quite self-deprecating; indeed, she has frequently been known to satirise her own performances. She is also renowned for her modesty about her professional achievements and is reputed to be so embarrassed about putting her two gold Oscars on show that she elected to stash them in her downstairs bathroom, where hopefully far fewer visitors to her home would see them. She lives with her husband Greg Wise and daughter Gaia in North London, is highly selective about the roles that she chooses, and spends as much time at home as possible. Emma is a keen cook and reportedly loves trying out new recipes in her well-equipped kitchen.

One of the trademarks of Thompson’s career is that she frequently acts with the same people; she has played the role of Hugh Grant‘s love interest in 'Sense and Sensibility', and then went on to play the part of his sister in 'Love Actually'; she has acted with her mother, Phyllida Law in many movies, including 'Sense and Sensibility'. Notwithstanding Thompson’s own modesty, it must be noted that she is the only person ever to win Academy awards for both acting and writing, notably the Oscar for both Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. Thompson’s talent is multi-faceted and prodigious, since she is a gifted comedienne and serious actor, as well as a brilliant writer. Hopefully, she will continue to delight the movie-going public with her many gifts and talents.

Question: For which film did Emma Thompson win an Academy Award for Best Actress?
Answer: 'HOWARDS END'